Food for thought

paulr

Good afternoon,
after more than ten years as a member I am starting to find that "clients"
expect services at an extremely low cost and am losing business to non chartered competitors prepared to undercut; is this a general concern.I would appreciate some input
as regards fees;obviously different parts of the United Kingdom will vary;
Hourly rate approx used as my benchmark in Wales;
PAYE £12
VAT £12
CONSULTANCY £12
TAX ENQUIRY £15
BOOK KEEPING £12
CORPORATION TAX £20
INCOME TAX £12
This is a broad brush approach but I am finding that fees charged by local
chartered firms are far in excess and would appreciate fellow members thoughts as I
may be undervalueing the work I undertake due to costs incurred or are my fees unrealistic within the work environment,-- plumbers at £50 p/h.etc.
paulr.

shaxxa

Hi Paul
If those are typical of hourly rates in Wales, what must the competitors charge if undercutting?
I would generally expect for bookkeeping an hourly rate between £12 & £20 depending on level of experience.
How do you charge out? Is it hourly or a fixed fee obviously depending on what is involved?
As a MIP I tend to charge fixed fees for the majority of my clients who are mainly sole traders, Partnerships with a couple of Ltd co.
Some you gain and on others you lose out but then I also revaluate the next time.
If I charged out on a hourly rate I would certainly be richer but I am properly one of those competitors who undercut those other Accountants in their nice offices whose overheads are a lot higher than mine. (I work from Home).
Having said that, I like to give a fair price and will probably never be rich.
Have you looked on AccountingWeb, there are several threads on there concerning what to charge.
I personally think the rates quoted are very reasonable and there is scope for increase, if others are undercutting then they must be a lot poorer than me

Guest

You are Kidding!

Those rates are ridiculously low.

I am based in Lancashire and my charge out rates are Rate A £65, Rate B £45. A being finalisation post TB, tax and consultancy. Rate B being prep work, bk and vat.

We are picking up a lot of work from medium size businesses who are paying in excess of £100 per hour. I have a letter from a large firm who will remain nameless touting for consultancy/ investigation work from me and there partners rates noted are £320 per hour.

I pay my staff more than £12 per hour.

You say you’re losing to non chartered, are you chartered or AAT?

Poodle

Guest - your fees are higher than mine but I have to say much higher than Paulr.

So to quote the 2 Ronnies scetch.. I look up at Guest and down at Paulr:laugh:

At the risk of upsetting any Welsh Nationals out there (and that is not my intention at all !!) I suggest that you either;

1 Move out of Wales

or

2 Review your practice, there could be other reasons why you are losing customers, unrelated to fees

Poodle